euhemerism

noun: The idea that gods are based on historical heroes whose stories became exaggerated in retelling.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Euhemerus, a fourth-century BCE Greek writer, who proposed that
the gods of mythology were based on real heroes whose accounts became
exaggerated with time. Earliest documented use: 1846.

NOTES:

In India, fans of some politicians and movie actors have built temples
for them.
But those are all lightweight deities. Look for the First Church of Stable
Genius opening a place of worship near you. See here
and here.

USAGE:

“I suspect that the scholarly assumption that somewhere beneath the legend
there must lurk a real historical founder is a modern case of Euhemerism.”
Robert Price; Of Myth and Men; Free Inquiry (Buffalo, New York); Winter 1999/2000.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.
-William Somerset Maugham, writer (25 Jan 1874-1965)